The Grenada gazette., 1887-09-17

| Euty years ago AoHuOn stay IHaAoI
named Mills introduced an improved
formation Of stay-making, the texture
elastic, and wholly banishing upright
| pieces, but the greatest Of evils escaped
and continues to escape remedy Near
" ak staymakers render the structure
of the corset sufficiently narrow to al
low of its being drawn at the back far
too tight for the health Of the wearer.
Sensible ladies leave the permanent
lacing of the interval at the back Of
their stays untouched. That interval.
according to a high authority, should
not be less than an inch In breadth, 50
as to leave the spinal column uncov-
cred by the corset. Ladies. however,
who lack common sense. strain.
tug, pull and haul at the
lacing at the hack of their
stays, or they hold on to horizontal
bar put up in their dressing-room while
their maids tug, pull and haul at the
stay laces until the requisite ''hour
glass" or "wasp" effect is produced.
Are there any other results. it may be
asked, from this elegant process Of gar
roting the female form? There are a
good many, and we will venture to emu
merate a few. On the authority Of the
most eminent physicians and surgeons
of the last two generations it may be
stated that in the head tight lacing
produces giddiness, headache, pain in
the eyes, ringing in the ears and bleed.
ing at the nose. Habitual tight lacing
will provoke that most undesirable ad-
dition to the female complexion, red
nose. Tight lacing is quite as mis-.
chievous in the region Of the thorax,
to which it gives a false support, i'm
peding the development of the natu-
raj support. 1t displaces the bones,
derangcs the circulation, ind aces scir-
rhus in the mammary glands. and I'll.
timately cancer; and it is a tolerably
sure provocative of lung disease, pal.
pitation of the heart and water in the
chest. In the abdominal region tight
lacing may be reckoned upon with tol-
cradle confidence to bring about loss
of appetite. squeamishness, indiges-
ton, induration of the liver, mclan.
cholia. dropsy and rupture. Campin
closely associated tight-lacing with
squirting; Boaud said that it led to
polypus; Planter maintained that to
tight lacing mothers unhealthy chill.
dren were born; Joseph warned the
lovers of stiff corsets that their chill.
dren would be ugly; Wormes remarked
that one of the trifling Inconvenience
of tight lacing was swollen feet; and
Winslow showed that there was an in.
innate connection between tight lac.
ing, curvature Of the spine and hunch.
back.
Every scholar is aware that stays are
articles of attire Of the very highest an.
tiquity. and that the cestus Of Agile
was practically corset. Some anti.
quarians have even contended that the
girdle which Juno wore when she
wished to appear at her loveliest in the
eyes Of Jupiter was pail. of stays, the
adornments described blythe ancient
Greek and Latin poets being in all
probability the ''mamillares" made Of
many folds of the finest cambric tightly
wound round and round the female
form, after the manner of the turban Of
= Turkish mollah or one of Beau Brum.
mell's cravats. The Empress Messa-
lima was wont to have her body cravat
adjusted very tightly before she pro-
ceeded to pass happy evening in the
Saburra; while in the reign ofAugustus
an improved corset was introduced
called ''castula;" it fitted closely to
the form. and had the agreeable adj
dition of Il dress improver. Busks
seem to have been invented in
Greece, to have been made of linden
wood, and worn by both sexes, since
Aristophanes bantered Cinesias as the
man who wore the linden--a curious
anticipation of "Tennyson's padded
man that wears the stays" The ladies'
stays Of the Middle Ages were known
as "justaucorps," and subsequently as
"cotteshardies;" but Isabeau dc Ba.
Were, the consort Of Charles vi. Of
France. totally repudiatcd stays, and,
besides, laid it down as a sumptuary
canon that there should be as little
drapery as possible between the neck.
lace and the lace. When the Italian
Catharine brought in the execrable
busk, which was first of wood or Of
ivory, the corset succcssively dcvel-
oped in rigidity and obduracy. 1t be-
came cage, it became cuirass and it
had to be so tightly laced that the mus
cular power Of the ordinary femme dc
chambrc" being inadequate to the pull
ley hauling required, the court ladies
used to send for tho strongest Of the
Forts de Ia Halle to tug at their stay
laces, and even these athletic creatures
could not accomplish their task to the
entire satisfaction Of their fashionable
employers without pressing one foot
firmly against the bedpost in order to
obtain the necessary purchase Or lever